Off the Porch and Growling

Sometimes the devil ain't in the details, the bastard hides in the trimming tools just so he he can make you dance.

Hate when he does that - really, I do. For the second time I destroyed the platter I am attempting to make for Tash. I swear I will get that platter made if it kills me. And right after that I have honey pots to do again. lol yep, I'm-a stubborn mule. Isn't it amazing mule and fool rhyme?

Anyway, I think the problem with the platters is that I was using about six pounds of clay which it seems is not enough to make it thick enough to trim and wide enough to be a platter. Love the handles though, on the bright side they get better everytime. I think they are very organic if I can use the term. Just for reference here is a picture of th platter again. So .... because my dumbness destroyed yet another platter I threw two, yes - two and I made them eight pounds a piece. If that;s not think enough well then I've really done something wrong.

Also red iron oxided the bird house and mug which came out of bisque however; no soda ash so I put 'em back on the shelf and will mix up a batch this next week. No biggie - I shoulda looked before starting.

-Peace

So today I started trimming the platter for Tash. Yeah, okay trimmed right through the blood damned bottom of the pot. Meh, so I threw another one -- lets hope I don't do it again.

Put a couple of pots in for bisque today as well, the bird house and a mug. I drew the weeping eye on the mug, why? I dunno I felt like it. Also I got a few kiln gifts back today, my pagan mug which is a similar mug to the one I made for my friend and brother, bearing a traditional norse prayer. As always, lol I used soda ash and red iron oxide for the external glaze and this timeI used Ellen's Blue as a liner. I've used Ellen's before and it always turns out well.

I got back the planter as well and the pitcher I call a "duck butt" pitcher, mainly because it reminds me of Donald Duck's butt the way it cants.

Today's lesson was on closed forms, we threw inverted bowls by opening to the bat, enlarging the opening and then throwing the inner wall, closing it off. Outside we  left some space between inner wall and outer wall. Essentially making dog bowls, however; Janes calls them "ceremonial" pots. I can believe that, it makes for a pot which has a distinctive look and theat for sure. I expiramented a little and threw a vase like object. I don't know how it will turn out, first time trying it. We'll have to see what happens with it.

Here is the pitcher, hope you like it. I used Albany Slip Brown as a liner glaze. You'll also notice I also used a thin wash of copper carbonate for effect. I enjoy the greens and blues that worked their way out of the mix.

Finally here is the planter, of particular note is the sgraffitto - I was thinking of Tolkien when I did this - it's not Tengwar, or Cirth just my scribbling. Yeah, I know I know way too much about Tolkien - what can I say. Anything, even the alphabet is made great by Tolkien.

Now to put some plants in it.

The thing of note is how large it is. I am fairly proud of this at this point on time. I don't know if it will make it or not, the clay gods haven't rendered their decision yet, assuming I keep drying it sloooowly then I would "assume" (yes it really is an ugly word) it should pop-off the bat this next weekend and allow for some trimming.

The prayer mug turned out just as well as you can see. I think the Gods love my brother well. In this one I think you can see the float really well. I did the rim on this mug a bit different. It's deeper and thicker but I *think it fits the mug style well.  The other thing you can see here is how the handle is centered but  off to one side at the bottom. I assure you this is intentional, personally I have found this works well for a "fit" if you will.

Peace

The berry bowl tuned out awesome, and as I think you'll agree the deep firebrick works well in conjunction with the soda ash and red iron oxide, I've also included a picture of the saucer for the berry bowl and it I am really really happy with ... I love the way the glaze broke here.  Notice on the bowl there is some "pulling" or "pooling" of glaze on the rim, this is not the normal "crawling" it is caused by getting soda ash on the rim of the bowl. There is no crazing or otherwise ugliness. The pooling doesn't look bad, I rather like it as it sort of looks like the glaze was washed off in certain areas.

Yeah, really happy with this.